Treasurer could upset lawmakers’ 520 bridge plans

Chris McGann, the P-I’s Olympia reporter, has a story in Monday’s paper that stems from an interview he had last week with State Treasurer Michael Murphy.

Murphy told McGann that he rejects the finance plan for the proposed rebuilding of the Highway 520 bridge and won’t bankroll the project unless lawmakers toll both the Interstate 90 crossing as well as the new bridge.

“I will not authorize the debt to be issued for a project that can’t pay for itself,” Murphy said. “In order for the thing to work, both bridges – period – need to be tolled, not parts of bridges, not certain lanes.”

State lawmakers have to come to grips with the fact that they don’t have enough money for the project unless changes are made to the financing plan, Murphy said.

“Now push is coming to shove and decisions have to be made,” he said. “I don’t think anybody likes that idea of having to toll regionally as opposed to specifically. But the reality check is this: You can afford it or you can’t afford it. If you can afford it, how are you paying for it? Well, if we got a bunch of free money from the feds or we had a local tax that was put in place, but the revenue from the 9.5 (cent-per-gallon gas-tax increase) has already been allocated to other stuff.
“The only way to finance (the $4.4 billion project) is with revenue streams that are sufficient to pay back the people who buy our bonds,” Murphy said. “And as the treasurer of the state, I have to certify to the people who buy our bonds that I have looked at the numbers and the numbers work. If they come up with a plan that is 33 thirty three percent short, I will not issue the bonds.”